Garment clip

ABSTRACT

A garment clip for readily receiving garments formed of very flexible material such as double knit garments and holding them in a firm gripping manner and which can be inexpensively produced by molding of plastic or other suitable material.

United States Patent [1 1 Froehiich, Jr.

[ Aug. 28, 1973 i 1 GARMENT CLIP [75] Inventor: Monroe Froehlicll, Jr.,South Salem,

[73] Assignee: Dl-IJ Industries Inc., New York,

[22] Filed: Mar. 1, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 230,691

[52] US. Cl. 24/255 TV [51] Int. Cl A44b 21/00 [58] Field of Search24/255 TV, 255 GP,

24/255 G, 255 P, 259 FF, 259 GC, 259 PF, 137 A, 137 R, 49 C, 49 CC, 49CP,138 R, 67.9, 261 F, 261 G, 261 GC, 261 PC, 138 A,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D25,703 6/1896 Rothert24/261 PC X Dl91,787 11/1961 Heil 24/255 TV 1,019,256 3/1912 Irvin24/259 PF 1,637,564 8/1927 Gillette 24/259 PF 2,711,637 6/1955 Wells24/261 A X 3,214,813 11/1965 Goldman .1 24/137 R FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 17,564 9/1894 Great Britain 24/259 GC PrimaryExaminerDonald A. Griffin Attorney-David S. Kane, Joseph C. Sullivan eta1.

[ 57 ABSTRACT A garment clip for readily receiving garments formed ofvery flexible material such as double knit garments and holding them ina firm gripping manner and which can be inexpensively produced bymolding of plastic or other suitable material.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures Patented Aug. 28, 1973 GARMENT CLIPBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When garments are displayed and/or shippedor stored, it is desirable that portions thereof be maintained in apredetermined position relative to the remaining portions. For thispurpose garment clips have been used. Such clips are used in quantity asmany clips may be used with respect to a single garment and the clipsare often disposed of after use. The clips must be inexpensive andcapable of mass production. For this reason, clips for this purpose havebeen molded of suitable plastic material. Clips of this type, althoughquite small, must be sufliciently strong to resist breaking in use andbe capable of functioning in a proper manner-that is-the clip mustprovide adequate gripping of the garment portion to which it is affixed.Further, the clip must be readily usable and the gripping portions ofthe clip must not interfere with the user's ability to place the clip inposition on the garment or remove it therefrom.

In my US. Pat. No. 3,462,809 I have disclosed a clip suitable forgripping garments formed of a variety of materials. Since the disclosuretherein, however, very flexible and heavy double knit materials havebeen utilized in the production of garments and the clip shown in U. S.Pat. No. 3,462,809 has been found not entirely suitable for grippingsuch materials.

A suitable clip for such materials must easily receive the materialrequiring a clip with the leg portions which are readily separated andhaving leg surfaces which guide the material into position with aminimum of frictional resistance. Additionally, the clip legs must becapable of developing sufficient inwardly directed forces to maintainthe garment material in position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A garment clip of U-shaped configuration havingtwo leg portions joined by a spring loop with the first leg portionhaving an inwardly offset central flattened surface and terminating in asupporting lip joined to the flattened surface by an inwardly facingarcuate portion and the remaining leg being inclined inwardly toward thefirst leg and terminating in an outwardly directed receiving lipoverlying the flattened surface of the first leg.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is an enlarged side view of a clip constructed in accordance withthis invention and diagrammatically in broken lines there is illustratedthe clip when opened to engage with an edge portion of a garment;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the clip shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the clip shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a transverse view in the direction of the arrows in FIG. I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The garment clip of thisinvention as shown in the Figs. is molded integrally of a suitableplastic material and consists of legs 12 and 14 joined by spring loop16.

The lower leg 14 has an inwardly offset portion 18 which is adjacent thespring loop and joined thereto by a knuckle 20. The offset portion 18provides leg 14 with an inwardly facing central flattened surface 22.

Leg l4 terminates at an inwardly directed supporting lip 24 which isjoined thereto by arcuate portion 26. Arcuate portion 26 faces inwardlyand its upper or inner surface 28 provides a guide surface for garmentsto be received by the clip as will appear below.

The second leg 12 is inclined inwardly towards sur face 22 terminatingabove such surface near arcuate portion 26. It is straight over itsmajor portion 30 which is joined with loop 16 by a short, straightportion 32. Leg 12 terminates in an outwardly directed receiving lip 34.

To use the clip the user places the edge of garment 36 on surface 22 andslides the garment toward the loop 16. As this is done, leg 12 is forcedaway from leg 14 into the position shown in phantom in FIG. 1. Thereceiving lip 34 being outwardly directed readily allows the garment tomove toward loop 16 without interference from the end of leg 12. It isnoted that the lip 34 terminates in a position such that a part orportion of surface 22 is exposed immediately adjacent arcuate portion 26so that there is a zone in surface 22 that the garment edge can slide onprior to encountering lip 34. Surface 28 provides a guide surface sothat if the garment edge is pressed toward loop 16 with the garment notprecisely in the same plane as surface 22, the surface 28 upon beingencountered by the garment edge will direct the same easily and with aminimum of resis tance onto surface 22. While this is occurring, thesupporting lip 24 aids in bringing the garment into the plane of surface22. After the garment is in position within the clip, leg 12 isyieldingly urged due to the inherent resiliency in the clip and the loop16 toward its original position as shown in full lines in FIG. 1 therebymaintaining the garment firmly within clip 10. To remove the garment theuser can pull the garment portion taut causing movement of the end ofthe garment allowing the garment to be easily slid from within.

I claim:

1. A garment clip of generally U-shaped configuration comprising firstand second leg portions joined by a spring loop, said first leg portionhaving an inwardly offset portion adjacent the spring loop providing aninwardly facing central flattened surface and terminating in an inwardlydirected supporting lip joined to said central flattened surface by aninwardly facing arcuate portion, an inwardly facing loop flattenedsurface of said spring loop whereat said first leg is joined thereto,said central flattened surface and said loop flattened surface beingparallel with said central flattened surface being longer than each ofsaid loop flattened surface and said inwardly facing arcuate portion andsaid second leg being inclined inwardly toward said first leg andterminating in an outwardly directed receiving lip overlying saidcentral flattened surface and terminating said second leg portion andsaid receiving lip overlying said central flattened surface at a pointspaced from said arcuate portion whereby a zone of said centralflattened surface is exposed.

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1. A garment clip of generally U-shaped configuration comprising firstand second leg portions joined by a spring loop, said first leg portionhaving an inwardly offset portion adjacent the spring loop providing aninwardly facing central flattened surface and terminating in an inwardlydirected supporting lip joined to said central flattened surface by aninwardly facing arcuate portion, an inwardly facing loop flattenedsurface of said spring loop whereat said first leg is joined thereto,said central flattened surface and said loop flattened surface beingparallel with said central flattened surface being longer than each ofsaid loop flattened surface and said inwardly facing arcuate portion andsaid second leg being inclined inwardly toward said first leg andterminating in an outwardly directed receiving lip overlying saidcentral flattened surface and terminating said second leg portion andsaid receiving lip overlying said central flattened surface at a pointspaced from said arcuate portion whereby a zone of said centralflattened surface is exposed.